Deadening the Baseball? MLB's Done It Before
The sport has a long and twisted relationship when it comes to manipulating the baseball.Emma Baccellieri https://www.si.com/2021/02/09/baseball-changeOn Jan. 10, 1938, four ballplayers met to take batting practice on a freezing day in Baltimore. They were Jimmie Foxx, the three-time home-run leader; Chuck Klein, the slugging right fielder; Bill Cissell, the light-hitting veteran; and Charlie Keller, the minor league batting champ. It was a rather strange group—all played for different teams, with different styles, and, again, it was the middle of January. But MLB had wanted to see an assortment of hitters, and they needed to take care of this before spring training, no matter how cold it was. They were there to test out a new baseball—a deadened ball, with raised seams and loosened twine, designed to take some of the offense out of the game.
Last edited by Ron Madden; 02-10-2021 at 12:17 AM.
*BaseClogger* (02-19-2021),Danny Serafini (02-10-2021),Revering4Blue (02-10-2021)
MLB is messing with the baseball again — this time to bring homers downhttps://www.startribune.comA mountain of evidence — both plain and scientific — led to the conclusion that Major League Baseball was using juice-up baseballs during the 2019 season. Or at least until the playoffs, when they maybe changed the ball again.
Baseball, of course, denied it — or at least denied doing anything intentional about the ball it uses, over which it has total control. "[MLB] has done nothing, given no direction for an alteration in the baseball … There is no desire on part of ownership to increase the number of home runs in the game," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in July 2019.
So it's interesting that now, two years later, a memo seems to suggest that MLB is doing exactly what Manfred said it didn't do two years ago: intentionally altering the baseball, albeit slightly, in order to impact outcomes.
HR are hit in the air to the OF.
They are the complete opposite of ground balls to the IF-- which is the only place (as far as I know) where teams employ the radical shifts so many complain about.
A lighter ball should have next to no impact on shifts, one way or another.
Chip R (02-22-2021)
You nailed it IMO. The game is constantly changing. But anymore I feel they are instituting these changes to simply manipulate results they desire. Now it's all about LA and hitting HRs. And also, home runs (power hitter) translates into mucho dollars.
Your batting order use to be constructed with each player basically having a designed (desired) role. And your 3-4-5 guys were your power "RBI" guys. I've always enjoyed watching the pure hitter at the plate, a "battle" between pitcher and hitter, and who is going to come out on top?
I don't really care much for the way they are teaching hitting nowadays.
Last edited by GAC; 02-15-2021 at 05:02 AM.
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
757690 (02-15-2021),goreds2 (02-15-2021),Old school 1983 (02-15-2021),REDREAD (02-22-2021)
dreghorntwo (02-15-2021),Old school 1983 (02-15-2021),REDREAD (02-22-2021)
bm1475 (02-15-2021),dreghorntwo (02-15-2021),goreds2 (02-15-2021),REDREAD (02-22-2021)
Technically, launch angle isn't about hitting HRs. Ted Williams preached launch angle and he hit lots of non-HRs too. It's designed to increase your line drives and you can use launch angle when you go the other way or up the middle. What it's designed to do is avoid weenie groundouts. With a less lively ball, good launch angle hitters should be able to spray their hits around and shoot more balls into the gaps.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
GAC (02-16-2021),Ron Madden (02-15-2021)
I fully expect the Reds to be able to adjust to this change by spring training 2023.
My theory: Home runs are as interesting as ever, but what happens in between when all you’re trying to do is hit homers is not as interesting.
alwaysawarrior (04-09-2021),GAC (02-16-2021),M2 (02-15-2021),mth123 (02-15-2021),ochoa30 (02-16-2021),REDREAD (02-22-2021),Revering4Blue (02-15-2021),UKFlounder (02-15-2021)
As I said, anything that potentially reduces flight and exit velocity will enhance the shift. If you decrease the EV of ground balls/line drives, you're increasing the likelihood of the defense making an out. If the ball has slightly less carry, you're turning a chunk of deep fly balls and liners into outs that previously made the stands by a few rows. Thus, you're reducing the percentages of the hitter beating the shift over the top.
The shift is becoming more and more exaggerated over time. Tons of teams are involving their CF/RF in the shift, including playing them deeper and/or utilizing the middle CF/RFer.
Minor tweaks to the ball can have a significant impact and you really won't know how it'll turn out until the season starts.
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
To those that think the game has become "boring", maybe stagnated, and I'm one of them, what, in your opinion, led the game to this point?
As much as I see the significance, and positive aspects, of analytics to the evolution of the game, can one also say it has led to a negative impact when it comes to the fan's "involvement" and entertainment level? In other words, yes, analytics has improved the game as far as the end result, eliminated behaviors that are seen as "non-productive", while placing the emphasis on those that are. But in the process, has all the strategy, game-time decision-making by managers straining at a gnat, made watching boring to many?
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
REDREAD (02-22-2021)
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